ADD kickstarter

I don't feel like writing a long post at the moment. But there is currently an Adventures Dark and Deep, kickstarter project.

D&D Calander

Reading this blog post over at mythopoeic rambling, prompted me to have some ideas for month names I might use in my up coming Kurahast campaign. Probably with some tweeks. A few of my month names are derived from his, but his calendar is done with greyhawk and old school D&D in mind and is also probably better done then mine. I just kinda came up with some quick easy to say names that are somewhat derived from real month names.

I put in parenthesis how the name seams to have been come up with to me. Like I said some are derived from his calendar.

1. The Month of Djinn                          (jan, jin, djinn)
2. The Month of Phantoms                  (feb, fan, phantom)
3. The Month of Armies                      (march, armies march)
4. The Month of Spells                        (april, A spill, A spell)
5. The Month of Maidens                   (may, mai, maiden)
6. The Month of Sand                          (june, dune, sand)
7. The Month of Lies                           (july, ju lie, lie)
8. The Month of Winds                        (august, a gust, gusty wind)
9. The Month of Kings                        (september, scepter, kings scepter)
10. The Month of Orcs                          (october, orctober, orcs)
    ~ The Day When All is Hallow
11. The Month of Death                        (november, necro-vember, necro)
12. The Month of Delight                     (december, de, delight)
    ~ The Mass of Wishes                     (lol, wishmass)
13. 
    

I guess I just made his more generic, but this is the way I will probably be using it. With more holidays added most likely. Now I don't even need to come up with separate constellations as the star signs could match the months names. But I might anyway.

Weapon Familiarity:

All weapons that your class has “access” to, are the weapons your character has “Basic Familiarity” with.
The primary weapon you begin play with will be considered “Familiar” choose one.
All other weapons are “un-familiar”
In game while in use of a weapon it can move from one position of familiarity to another.

If a weapon that you have “Familiarity” or are “Very Familiar” with has not be used for awhile it will drop back down to “Basic Familiarity.”

Un-Familiar                         -3
                                             -2
Basic Familiarity                -1
Familiar                               0
Very Familiar                    +1

(How quickly familiarity is gained or lost will be determined by the DM)
(Familiarity might even go beyond this point, again at the DM’s discretion.)

What this system does:

It removes the aspect of any class not having any access at all to certain weapons.
 It clearly shows the difference between having specialized or simply using a weapon.
It stacks with any other ability that gives weapon specialization.
It rewards players for sticking with one weapon even if a magic weapon of a different variety were
available.

Thus a fighter is neither proficient in all weapons or in three weapons, nor is a wizard forbidden from ever learning how to use a long sword.

The idea of being proficient with a weapon is left as a lifelong process not something learned before level 1.

So what is D&D anyway?

Over at Classic RPG Realms the author (chris, I think) has been posting some interesting articles about how his perception of what D&D was originally suppose to be has been changed quite alot by reading Rob Kuntz's interview and blog.

Now I Personaly always thought of D&D being about the social aspect and getting together to have a shared adventure, but also about the prospect of earning something through the challenge of that adventure. But what Rob Kuntz is talking about makes alot of sense. Apparently is was about creation even to Gary Gygax it was about creating your own world and your own adventures.

Makes me kind of glad now that I was always the type to jump around making my own rules and even my own world/game called sibra1. But somehow I think that by understanding this more players and DM's can stop arguing about editions and rules and what is d&d a wargame or about story or about roleplay, and just remember its about creating and having fun in your own world be it about war or drama or pink elephants.

No matter what edition or game you play you don't need to put another dollar towards any company you don't like and you don't need to prove that you know what old school was about. Even if you think you do know you should read the following interview and articles and also Rob's blog.

Rob's Interview
http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-borders-or-limits-conversation-with.html

Rob's Blog
http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/

Reading Rob Kuntz (classic rpg realms)
http://classicrpgrealms.blogspot.com/2011/09/reading-rob-kuntz.html

ADD Campaign log 2

Last time we left off with the PC's returning to town after a near miss with some Stirges. Since they need ed to rest up and Eloum decided to change their arsenal (and since it had been more then a week since playing) we decided a month of time had past in game. Phillip was released for the month but expected to pick back up his duties.

Eloum and Einar shopped around for some new Halberds and got rid of Eloum's old Pike. Eloum paid for one for himself, Einar and Philip. Mean time Thayd went to Caldwell and asked him for the money to hire another person for their group.

Caldwell had already decided to plant an operative in the group (Kol) to make sure they were not wasting his money. This was also an introductory mission for Kol (The Assassin) to see if Caldwell could trust him.

An elaborate ruse was set up too convince Thayd that she had met and hired Kol at "The Old Dukes" Winery. This was almost ruined because Frey, who was given the original hirelings 50 silver, was already at The Old Dukes, trying to hire people.

The negations were successful though and only interrupted by a random run in with The Baron of Black Eagle.  Einar stopped by the market place to buy some whittling tools and then the next morning.they set back off for Caldwell Castle.

Once there they listened at the main door and for some reason, Frey decided to tie his horse to the door and pull it open. While tie-ing his horse to it a Stirge had noticed them and was coming out a window.  Kol threw his net and missed which landed on one of Einars dogs. Frey (the mage) moved up to attack with his staff and missed, followed by a dart missing from Thayd. She spent the rest of the fight missing with darts except one that hit Frey and another that Eloum.

Eventually everyone moved up with their Halberds and Kol with his Trident not to long after all the Stirges were dead. But with Frey at 1hp and Eloum at 0 and Frey having used his spell they decided to camp out.

No hits were landed from the Stirges, oddly.


One interesting thing about tonight adventures is that Kol was made by mike from a 1e AD&D players handbook and required basicly no conversion at all. His equipment was bought from ADD and his classes were filled in most of the way from ADD but everything from AD&D was fine and didn't need changed.


System: Adventures Dark and Deep by Joseph Bloch
Module: B1-B9 In search of adventure
Players:
Laisa = (Thayd) High Elf, Mage/Mountebank
Me = (Eloum) High Elf, Mystic/Fighter/Savant
Brandon = (Frey) Gray Elf, Mage
Justin = (Einar)Wild Elf, Fighter/Thief
Mike = Kolass (Half-Orc, Fighter/Assassin)

Next ADD Campaign Log

Product Idea

Using some of the research I did on Stirges, I am thinking about adding in some of my own ideas and maybe making a small pdf product centered around Stirges. Maybe some new species, behavior, ecology, life cycle.
I might even try too make a small adventure.

One of the idea's I had for the product was too include stat blocks for multiple editions of dnd. Possible making them designed too be balanced for Adventures Dark and Deep, Legends and Labyrinths and 4th edition, That would also make it compatible with 1st edition (I hope) and 3rd edition.

What would you like too see in a product like this? What would make it most fun and useful for you?

Gameplay

One of the reasons I like old-school dnd sometimes even going as far back as basic was the tiers of play. Going from practically a commoner with a sword to a successful adventure with hirelings and maybe a caravan too one day clearing the country side and becoming a lord.

But over time dnd has become more and more about having a high fantasy hero who fights enemies and less about man who grows and changes and develops both himself and the world. You also go from one day having many characters exploring one world too having one characters who just kind of follows the story line.

Justin posted a great article (The Subtle Shifts in Play) that covers some of what I mean over at the Alexandrian.

One thing that article brings too my mind is that the placement of spells in a game needs too have alot of thought. For example does anyone in 3.5 use torches at all. With light being a 0 lvl spell and the amount of spells a 1st level character gets and only 2gp for a sunrod which doesn't need a flint and steel and last for 6 hours and weighs very little.

I really think each edition of dnd simulates an entirely different game and experience. I can't help but wish I had a crew of open minded grognards too help me design a game of our own.

More on Theodric's Making NPCs with cards.

In a previous post I talked about a method of NPC creation I found over at Mythopoeic Rambling using cards. One thing I meant too mention or clarify on was that Theodrics method is simple enough that you could memorize it and use it at the gamin table with no need for the pdf. Which I'm starting to think sounds better and better since I wouldn't need my computer or even a rule book too quickly find out who a random npc is.

Here is how I imagine me using it and might try tomorrow or Tuesday. We are sitting around gaming and the pc's walk into an Inn in a mixed population town so I have no idea who this inn keeper should be. I have a deck of cards sitting by me and I draw the top one and get a Diamond, that tells me its a dwarf and since I decided to write one or more dwarven names on all the diamonds in this deck I quickly have an option for the inn keepers name.

Now given that he is an inn keeper he is probably just a commoner but if in game it turns out he is secretly something else then I draw another card and lets say I get another Diamond, this tells me he is a thief and the number on the card lets me know that that plus three is his primary attribute (dex) so his dex will land somewhere between 5 and 16 and if I got anything less then nine I would probably just say its a nine so the dwarven thief will either have around average or above average dex.

I would for now assume the rest of his stats where 10's because I find that a quick way to handle things but if I need the rest of the stats I would follow the rest of Theodrics method and be done in seconds. And if I had no ideas at all for the personality then I probably would draw a card for another stat or so until I knew basically who this npc is. A low int and high dex might mean he is street smart and yet illiterate for example.

I'm not sure If I like the 5-16 thing but that's mostly because in the edition I'm playing in you can qualify for a class with less then 9 but in 3.5 I'd just go with the 5 if I drew it.Maybe I would just go with +5 for the main attribute then it would 7-18 but I don't think I would do that all the time either.



Edit: It just occurred to me that using the ace as a 14 you could have a stat as high as 17 in the prime score. I double checked the pdf and found that for rolling the other stats you get from 3-16

Update: I finally got around too looking at Theodrics Gallery of Random Rouges. Which is a pdf of npc's made using his card system. I saw some superior one's and some sub-par ones so I'd have to say it seams balanced in that regard and also It reminded me that you could adjust the attributes for race making it possible to get an 18

Weapon Familiarity

Dravean from over on the Adventures Dark and Deep Forum has an idea of slowly removing a penalty for not being proficient with a weapon so long as that weapon is actually used in combat for a length of time.

Which inspired this idea from me:

1. Each weapon the character has access to or is proficient with he has a base of -1 to use when he first switches to that weapon type.

2. Any character can use a weapon he is not familiar with at a penalty of around -3

3. After some time of using the weapon in combat the penalty is reduced by one and possibly allowed to go up to +1

4. Once a character reaches +0 with a weapon he is not familiar with he is now considered familiar with it.

5. If switching from one weapon to a new weapon he is familiar with but has not used in sometime then the penalty may fall back down as low as -1

I don't think I would actually wait until an adventure is done too adjust the penalty or bonus but maybe base it off of getting like 5 successful hits or maybe surviving 2-3 fights using the weapon. Maybe even base it off xp.

I believe this system would give players a feeling of personally earning specialty in weapon while still allowing and even encouraging some players to switch up their weapons. Since they can gain new familiarity or maybe even switch weapons daily to try and keep a higher level of familiarity. And at the same time making it too where finding a slightly better magic weapon isn't reason enough to just drop your old one.

20+ Players

The most people I have ever DM'ed at once was around five or six. But I have heard and read about campaigns (even ran by people like gary gygax) in which there were multiple parties of chracters adding up to twenty or more players sometimes not even fully aware of each others actions so they could enter a dungeon after another group had already gone through.

This sounds very intriguing to me but I haven't had any playing experience remotely like that. I doubt I could find and manage 20 players in my area or find a group like that but maybe there are ways to simulate such a campaign. Here are the ideas I have had to try and simulate it or make a campaign world more alive.

1. I could run a group of characters into a dungeon myself, like a solo adventure and leave behind their actions for players to discover.
2. I could use official tsr adventures and look for campaign logs online and incorporate some of what they did into the adventure.
3. I could make some tables too randomly allow encountering or rolling up the effects of previous adventuring groups.

Obviously this won't be the same as actually running multiple groups but it could be interesting. Does anyone have any more ideas?

Testing my new character generation.

I finally tested my new Idea for making characters for Adventures Dark and Deep (by Joseph from the grayhawk grognard.)  using something I came up with talked about here. After two testes we decided my idea was broken as both characters did not qualify for the races that were rolled without being adjusted somehow and both were close to un-playable.

The player making the characters did have fun with the system however so maybe someday I will try to find a way to make it work. Maybe I can use it for a 3rd edition d&D game someday.

Rolling Stats

I am a huge fan of the standard 3d6 leave them where they land method. In the past I tried a few other methodes but too me it really comes down to earning your rewards. Some people say players should start with higher stats because they are heroes. For me however, RPG's are not about being given everything you want but about earning it.

Rolling the stats randomly leaves everyone and even npc's on equal footing and allows the DM to simulate a world. I have also found that when players play simple characters with average stats that can die, then they learn to play strategically and too really value the rewards they earn and the characters that live.

Here is a great article over at Classic RPG Realms that goes further into explain the many reason's why 3d6 and leave them where they fall is a great method of rolling stats.

Character Creation Idea

Yesterday I talked about Adventures Dark and Deep from the Greyhawk Grognard. Today I'm mostly going to talk about a new way I might try to make characters that I am going to play test using ADD.

After showing Thaylie the books and layout she was almost as excited about them as I am (although I think she is a little more excited about "The Secret of Fire". Which does sound pretty cool especially for the price. I might write about that game but maybe after I play it. Although I was amazed by its testimonials from people including Monte Cook and Gail Gygax.)

So Far with ADD I have gone through most of the Player's Manual and making a character was fun and I actually am new to some of these classes so I am finding them kinda interesting. I don't exactly know what it means that some are sub-classes but I think its basicly just that they are related but harder to get into such as a paladin compared to a cavalier.

Also it was great being able to discuss my opinions and such on the play-testing forums. I think I managed to help out a little and also got what I wanted sorted out, lol.

So anyway here is my idea I might try out on my players for making some characters: (This idea basically has nothing to do with ADD except that I'm going to try it for an ADD game.)

1. Each player is going to choose how old their soul is without knowing what that is going to effect but it will determine their base race. Their options are:

• Ancient (Elf)
• Very Old (Gnome)
• Old (Dwarf)
• Mature (Half-Elf)
• Young (Halfling)
• Very Young (Human)
• New (Half-Orc)

These are based off of the maximum age of each race.

Once I know what their base race is I am going to pose them each two questions which will determine their starting alignment and then I will give them the sub race that best matches. I will most likely ask the questions in a much more dramatic and less predictable way.

The basis of the questions are:

1. You see a light do you move towards it (lawful, look around(neutral) or run back(chaotic).
2. You realize you are being born into the world, do you choose a family that will give you comfort (good), discipline(neutral) or do you not care (evil)

So once I have their base race and alignment I am going to use this list I made to determine their actual race.

• Gray Dwarf = Evil or Lawful Evil
• Hill Dwarf = Neutral or Good
• Mountain Dwarf = Lawful
• Human = Any
• Drow = Chaotic Evil
• High-Elf = Lawful
• Wild Elf = Chaotic
• Wood Elf = Good
• Gray Elf = Neutral
• Half Elf = Any
• Deep Gnome = Good
• Gnome = Neutral
• Hairfoot Halfling = Chaotic
• Stout Halfling = Lawful
• Tallfellow = Good
• Half Orc = Chaotic

2.  To figure out their stats I am going to start with all 1d6 randomly and then based on my campaign settings solar system ask them what was visible in the sky when they were born. I am then going to roll another set of 1d6's and assign the highest ones to the corresponding stats of what they choose. They will able to choose any configuration of the following being in the sky at the time of birth.

• Yellow Sun (STR)
• Blue Moon (Int)
• Green Moon (Wis)
• White Moon (Dex)
• Red Sun (Con)
• A special event like an eclipse (Cha)

3. Then I am either going to DM them through their childhood or ask more questions to simulate what they might have done in their youth. I intend to bend it too match their race and such. Depending on what they choose or do during their childhood I will assign the final group of 1d6's.

It will basically work like this I will role 6d6 and then put them in a situation. if they choose to respond in a way that corresponds to strength then the highest d6 will go to str but no other situations will have a strength way out. eventualy each d6 will be assigned.

First I'm starting with birth order

•  Middle Child (Str)
• Youngest (Int)
• Second Born (Wis)
• Orphan (Dex)
• Only Child (Con)
• First Born (Cha)

As they are growing up their family as a whole runs into troubles do you

• Do as your asked too (Str)
• Help when you are able too (Int)
• Watch how other families are getting by (wis)
• Ask your family questions about their problems (Dex)
• Run Away (Con)
• Try to fix all the problems (Cha)

Your favorite class while being educated

• Dropped out to Get a Job (Str)
• All of Them (Int)
• Alchemy or Herbalism (Wis)
• Never Went to school (Dex)
• Weapons or Fighting Training (Con)
• The Easy Classes (Cha)

How did you handle Bullies

• Join Them (Str)
• Fight Them (Int)
• Ignore Them (Wis)
• Trick Them (Dex)
• Tell on Them (Con)
• Bully Them (Cha)

What do you want too be

• Mercenary (Str)
• Scholar (Int)
• Sage (Wis)
• Rich (Dex)
• Knight (Con)
• Good Person (Cha)

The Final d6 gets assigned to whatevers left.

So by this point they should have stats similar too 3d6 randomly and they were assigned based on hopefully fun choices and also know their race. I wil then let them choose their class by offering opportunities to go get training in them.They also should have a good idea of who they are and what they have been through, especially if I do Role Play all of this.

And then to top it all of I will probably have these questions come up once the campaign is actualy under way. I did not come up with these next questions but I forget where they came from.

• Who are you?
• What do you want?
• Why are you here?
• Where are you going?
• What do you want?
• What have you left behind?

Looking back at all this I wonder if it will appear to be a complete mess to someone reading it, but I am going to see how it goes, what kind of stats and characters come out of it and what the players think.

Adventures Dark and Deep

Adventures Dark and Deep (ADD) is based off of 1st edition AD&D but under the premise of what would 2nd edition have been like if Gary Gygax had made it. I believe it was made by Joseph of the Greyhawk Grognard, and there is a great review of it at Classic RPG Realms.

It is currently in a play-testing phase and free to download.  (It is no longer in play testing and can now be purchased from BRW Games.)

I highly recommend reading the review because it does a great job of explaining what the game is and even taught me a little more about it. But what I'm going to talk about is what the game is too me.

I played alot of AD&D when I was younger but by the age of 12 3rd edition was out and since that was the edition I played for the next 13 years I am not exactly a veteran too old school gaming. I recently tried to get back into the earlier editions.

First I tried playing 1st edition since I still own the core books for that edition. It was fun for awhile but gave me head aches and my wife didn't like the edition at all, mostly I think it was because of things like font, organization and that touch of riddle Gary seams to be able to write into almost any paragraph.

When then tried the retro clones which simply felt too bland for me, and then even began playing basic D&D. Eventually switching too a version of my own that stripped alot of various aspects of charactor generation too speed things up and make them less confusing but I did it in a way as too not lose flavor at least from the players perspective.

This essentially left me playing AD&D adventures with a completely house ruled game.

Then I saw ADD, which as far as I can tell collects everything from 1e and lays it out in a format that is clean and useful but without taking anything away from the game. For example it includes many classes such as the Cavalier, Mystic and Jester I believe 17 in all.

The races chapter includes many popular subraces and the bestiary is divided into sections like Wilderness/Dungeon, Prehistoric and Extra-planar.

I can't quite explain it but it appears ADD is exactly the game I have been looking for I just hopre Joseph continues to support it for years too come.

Tomorrow I will talk about some of my experiences play-testing it and how I am going to have my new players role up their characters in what will hopefully be a very interesting way.